When the media lies to us

In a major African city, Evelyne Labelle, 29, an investigative journalist at a private news channel, stumbles upon something unbelievable: the live suicide of an unknown man presented as a liar who was trying to sell fake documents to news outlets. The event generates massive ratings and reignites the debate about the responsibility of social media. But Evelyne senses something fishy: strange noises in the audio, an odd disconnect between shots, impossible lighting. While her newsroom celebrates the scoop, Evelyne discreetly retrieves the raw footage and begins a technical verification.

She calls Malik Leduc, 41, a data engineer at a large advertising firm. Malik, a rather discreet individual, struggles with his conscience: his team is working on a system that rewrites headlines in real-time, organises topics, and feeds AI that creates content to fill gaps, correct errors, and highlight what attracts attention. While examining spectrograms with Evelyne, Malik finds traces of voice cloning and video retouching: the live broadcast was altered at the last minute, then redistributed by a network of partner channels. So, even though the death occurred, the scene we saw isn't reality; it was staged.

Seize this book. Journey with Evelyne to the precarious edge where integrity battles technology. If you want to understand how your perspective is being calibrated, begin reading: the exploration begins.